Gender pay gap WIDENS as 84% of big UK businesses pay women less than men

Figures from the Equalities Office show 84% of around 1,000 UK organisations with 250 or more workers pay blokes more.

Some 143 (13%) pay women more while just 30 (3%) pay both sexes the same.

The Government has ordered all organisations with 250 or more workers to report annually on their gender pay gap, and the remaining 8,000 are required to publish the first set of data by April.

Among those with the biggest gender pay gap is clothing chain Phase Eight, where the hourly rate for women is 64.8% lower than their male counterparts, and tourism company TUI on 56.9%.

A spokesman for fashion retailer Phase Eight said: “Whilst on first glance, our published gender pay gap figures suggest the average man has a higher hourly rate of pay than the average female, this is misleading and does not reflect the true story and culture within the Phase Eight business.

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“Whilst on first glance, our published gender pay gap figures suggest the average man has a higher hourly rate of pay than the average female, this is misleading.”

Phase Eight spokesman

“The figures result from the fact that, as a women’s fashion retailer, the staff in our stores are overwhelmingly female, whilst our corporate head office staff (whose pay rates are typically higher) are more evenly split between men and women.

“This will cause significant disparity across our results where this imbalance is not taken into consideration.”

Earlier this year it was revealed the mean hourly rate for women was 52% lower than for men at easyJet, while the figure stood at 33% lower at Virgin Money.

At the time both firms said men and women in the same roles were paid the same, and put the gender pay gap down to having more men in higher-paid positions.

At the other end of the scale women’s hourly rate is 46.4% higher than men at manufacturer Sweet Dreams, based on the mean hourly rate.